Toquerville mother hit with additional charges in child abuse case

ST. GEORGE – Additional charges of felony child abuse have been levied against a Toquerville woman accused of starving her son while keeping him locked in a bathroom for a year or longer.

Originally charged with a second-degree felony for child abuse related to intentionally inflicting serious physical injury, Brandy K. Jaynes, 36, now faces two additional charges of the same type.

File photo: The home in Toquerville where a 12-year-old boy was allegedly locked in a bathroom and starved by his mother, 36-year-old Brandy k. Jaynes, Toquerville, Utah, Jan. 10, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Jaynes appeared in 5th District Judge John Walton’s courtroom via video feed from the Purgatory Correctional Facility Monday afternoon. She remained silent as the judge brought up the new charges and asked whether or not Jayne’s attorney, Edward Flint, agreed with them or not.

“I do object to the amendment information,” Flint said, adding he hadn’t seen any documentation yet backing the reason for the new charges. He also asked the court to postpone the pending preliminary hearing set for next week so he would have an opportunity to respond to the new information.

Walton granted Flint’s request over the state’s objection. Flint now has 10 days to file a response to the new charges.

“Apparently the judge agreed with my assessment that we can’t have a preliminary hearing if we are alleging a whole new three separate theories with the amended information,” Flint said. “I need time to prepare for that.”

Evidence supporting the new changes are similar to the one originally prompted by the initial information in a probable cause statement, Deputy Washington County Attorney Angie Reddish-Day said.

The initial charge was based on the malnutrition the victim in the case, Jaynes’ 12-year-old son, experienced while locked in the bathroom, Reddish-Day said. The other charges addressed the boy’s losing the ability to walk and the formation of developmental and intellectual delays also allegedly caused while “in captivity,” she said.

“Upon further evaluation by doctors and psychologists, additional information has developed in regard to the protracted loss of the use of his limbs and ability to walk in a normal fashion,” Reddish-Day said. “In addition, the developmental and intellectual delays that were developed while he was in the bathroom and otherwise held hostage.”

Overall, the new charges and information spell out the specific harm Jaynes’ alleged treatment had on her son, Reddish-Day said.

“It all gives rise to the need for a medical expert early on rather than post-preliminary hearing,” Flint said. “I’m going to ask for an expert early on to examine this evidence and help me prepare for a preliminary hearing.”

Jaynes has been held at the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility since Jan. 9 following her arrest by Washington County Sheriff’s deputies.

The day before her arrest, Jaynes’ son was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center by the boy’s father, Russell Jaynes.

The mother is accused of keeping her 12-year-old son locked away in a feces-covered bathroom for at least a year, if not longer. The boy was allegedly fed once a day for a time, then every other day by the mother, Reddish-Day said during a Feb. 14 bail reduction hearing.

An average 12-year-old is around 90 pounds, Reddish-Day said. When the boy’s father brought him to Dixie Regional, he weighed 30 pounds.

Hundreds of photos left on a laptop and on a phone also documented the progression of the “torture” Jaynes put her son through, Reddish-Day said. Jaynes also watched her son lying on the bathroom floor through a baby monitor and camera set up in the locked bathroom.

One Washington County deputy who saw photos of the bathroom the boy was locked in referred to it as a “torture chamber.”

The boy has also not been in school since the second grade and acts at a second grade level, Reddish-Day said.

Russell Jaynes, who has been cooperating with authorities during the case, was also charged with a third-degree felony child abuse through negligence.

The 12-year-old boy, as well as a twin sister and younger sibling, are currently in foster care. So far it appears the other children were treated in a relatively normal fashion compared to that of their brother.

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About the Author

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction, often telling people go left while he is pointing right.

I’ve heard a lot about this story and could care less about what happens to the so called “parents” of this boy.
What I would really like to know is: How is this boy doing? What’s is overall health update? Has he regained some weight? How’s his rehab back to basic life functions going? Etc…
That’s what I want to read about.